Oklahoma looks to defund Planned Parenthood for ‘billing errors’

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) is attempting to end the state’s funding for Planned Parenthood because of what she described as a “high rate of billing errors.”

Fallin asked Oklahoma’s health department on Thursday to terminate its contracts with the group after an official review of the state’s two affiliates found billing error rates of 20 and 14 percent.

{mosads}“These results are alarming,” she wrote in a letter to the department. “The lack of attention to the requirements imposed on a responsible provider is a continuing problem for these Planned Parenthood affiliates.”

The state’s investigation into Planned Parenthood earlier this year was sparked by a series of undercover videos alleging that the group had illegally profited from a fetal tissue donation program in two states.

Fallin’s focus on the “overbilling” marks a new approach to defunding Planned Parenthood.

Other governors have tried to cancel their states’ Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood because of the firestorm over its fetal tissue donation program, but that approach has been rejected in court because federal rules allow Medicaid patients to choose their healthcare provider.

Oklahoma reimbursed Planned Parenthood for about $100,000 worth of claims in 2015, totaling about 20,000 patient visits. In 2014, the state paid $200,000 for about 36,000 patient visits.

No wrongdoing has been found in Oklahoma’s investigation, or in the investigations of more than a dozen other states.

The move would impact six clinics in and around Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Fallin argued that ending the Medicaid contracts — which would force the clinics to accept fewer patients if not close altogether — would not impact a woman’s ability to choose her own provider, citing 120 other healthcare providers in the state.